Park Fire in California now 6th largest in state history

(CN) — First responders battling the Park Fire in northeastern California had good control lines on the massive blaze. But conditions have since changed with spot fires popping up, while rising temperatures over the next few days will dry out fire fuels.

It was 12% contained as of Monday afternoon.

“I think things are moving in the right direction,” Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said at a Monday press conference.

The fire started Wednesday afternoon and has since eclipsed the 2018 Camp Fire — which destroyed the nearby town of Paradise and became the deadliest wildfire in state history — in size. Authorities have said Ronnie Dean Stout II, 42, of Chico started the blaze after pushing a burning car into a gulley and down 60 feet into an embankment. Arrested shortly afterward, Stout faced arraignment in Superior Court on Monday.

The Park Fire has led to road closures and evacuations. Some evacuation warnings were lifted Monday, though many others remain in effect. Some 4,200 people remain under evacuation orders.

Honea said he hopes the Forest Ranch community, near the southeastern portion of the fire, will soon reopen to its residents. However, officials must first ensure it’s safe.

His office’s escort program, which helped residents get safely to their homes, has been suspended after one person lied to authorities and then refused to leave the area. If the escort program is restarted, it’ll happen on a case-by-case basis.

“Butte County, we have been through this before,” Honea said, adding that people who harass and antagonize his staff will be placed at the bottom of the list. “We know how to do this. You know how to do this.”

State Senator Brian Dahle, whose district includes portions of Butte and Tehama counties, urged people in a statement to Courthouse News to watch for updates and care for their neighbors.

“My constituents want the fire out and to be able to feel safe in their homes again,” Dahle said. “I am grateful for the thousands of fire personnel working to make that happen, though ultimately they’ll need help from nature to succeed.”

The blaze has so far destroyed 111 structures and damaged six. It’s now the sixth largest fire in California history.

Standing before a map of the Park Fire, Cal Fire operations section chief Mark Brunton said fire activity has increased. Spot fires — smaller fires that pop up from the larger fire — have appeared around the Park Fire’s perimeter, though firefighters have extinguished them.

Intense temperatures took a break over the weekend, and a rise in humidity early Monday helped moderate the fire. However, highs are expected to again climb into triple digits around midweek.

“We are expecting things to heat up and dry out,” Bakari Anderson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, told Courthouse News.

Highs in the low 90s Monday and Tuesday likely will near 100 by Wednesday. Temperatures from Thursday through the weekend are forecast to exceed 100.

Winds have been pushing most of the smoke farther north or into Nevada, meaning the greater Sacramento area — some 90 miles south of the fire’s southern tip — hasn’t seen much smoke. However, shifting winds on Wednesday could push smoke into the Sierra Nevada foothills, as well as bring increased ozone levels, said Emily Allshouse, communications and marketing specialist with the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District.

“We are watching for those impacts,” Allshouse told Courthouse News.

Increased ozone levels can lead to itchy eyes, coughing and respiratory issues.

California fires this year have exceeded the past two years in acreage, though they remain far behind the devasting years of 2020 and 2021.

This year, 726,667 acres have burned so far, with 232 structures destroyed. In 2022, over 331,000 acres burned, while 2023 led to fires ravaging 324,000 acres.

In 2020, some 4.3 million acres burned, with another 2.5 million acres blackened in 2021.

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